Chapter 37: Chapter 37

Sev had instructed the Minutemen to wait until a signal was given, and so the brigades that gathered were mulling around nervously as the echoes of the battle reached their camp just east of South Boston High School.

General Joe Becker stood with his colonels as they observed from their camp’s watch tower. They saw the boat coming in from the north, then saw something launch from it to land like a small meteor onto the beach.

It was hard to believe what the scopes and binoculars told them; a lone modified assaultron was tearing apart the antagonized mirelurks with a violence that made super mutants seem docile. By the time the boat made it to shore, that portion of the beach was tainted with ichor and gore of the dead crustaceans.

And then the children disembarked and started shooting. Joe heard some of the colonels’ sharp gasps as white hot beams stabbed into the remaining swarm of mirelurks. Sev’s young army sent disciplined volleys down the beach and after three minutes since that murderous robot landed, the northern beach of the Castle was cleared. Hand-held laser weapons should not be able to rip through thick carapaces like that.

The young soldiers of New World 81 followed Sev towards the main entrance of the castle, while the assaultron rocketed up to the fort’s wall. Joe could make out their armor, not too dissimilar from the average combat armor found throughout the commonwealth, save for the clear face shield on the helmet and each suit clearly being especially tailored for their wearer.

More mirelurks popped up to be slaughtered. The children did well even in close quarters, maintaining order when the lucky mirelurk got close enough. Sev apparently was just happy to sit back and only take on some of the bigger mirelurks that got too near while his troops handled the rest.

Joe watched a couple of girls get knocked away by a mirelurk’s charge, but their teammates nearby took the creature down soon after while a few others helped them up. Surprisingly, the girls were largely unharmed, only pausing to recover their breath and limping a bit as they rejoined the fight. The colonels witnessing this were just as surprised as he was.

A normal man should have been at least crippled from the crushed bones from such an impact. A normal child should have been pulped.

One boy got caught in a mirelurks claws, but just shot his captor to a charred pile of ash instead of being messily bisected. He then pried himself loose from the now unattached claw, and ran along as if nothing had happened.

Just what was Sev giving his kids?

The sights and sounds of fighting carried into the Castle where barely anything could be seen. On the walls though, bits of mirelurk were being thrown into the sky as the assaultron was probably tearing its way through whatever unlucky monster it came across.

Then the earth shook, and the doom of the Castle made its appearance. The mirelurk queen erupted south of the Castle, large enough for even the men on the ground to see. Its shriek was muted as it reached the camp, but still sent a cold rattle up Joe’s spine.

Its terrifying appearance only lasted a few seconds, as right after that someone, Sev, suddenly leapt from somewhere beyond the walls towards the hulking monster. Joe couldn’t make out exactly what happened, but a wet, sickening crunch crackled loudly all the way to his position, and the mirelurk queen began to topple.

Sev fell away safely with something in his hands. Colonel Hollis identified the object. “That… He’s got the queen’s head!”

That got everyone’s attention, and after realising what it was, there was no way for anyone to refute the identity. Joe squinted a bit through his binoculars to see the bits of gore on it as Sev wiped off some messy bits and admired his prize. The details left no room for doubt. Somehow the boy, no, the young man...somehow he just...yanked off the queen’s head.

Surely it couldn’t be that easy, right?

As their disbelief spread down to the men on the ground, two white hot laser beams shot into the sky in quick succession, followed by a short pause and then three more beams. That was the all clear signal, and forcing himself away from his own confused thoughts, Joe Becker remembered that he was a general of the Commonwealth’s Minutemen and brought his colonels to calm order again.

The Minutemen were made to break camp. It would take some time, but Sev’s instructions did require the Minutemen to move to the Castle only ten minutes after the signal was given. He was strict about not having anyone near before then, it was probably the only part of the deal that Sev was most stern about.

As the brigades packed up and assembled, rumbling, grating sounds echoed from the Castle. There was no way to really tell what was happening in there, so Joe didn’t bother wasting his time. He already had enough madness to occupy his mind for the time being.

More than enough time had passed by the time they were ready to move out, so Joe led the Minutemen in. Despite assurances and what he’d witnessed with his own eyes, he couldn’t fault his men and women to approach the Castle with their laser muskets at the ready. That a group of children were at the entrance, happily waving at them, somehow made the uneasiness worse.

*****

Everyone was in a celebratory high after the battle. Edward himself felt giddy at what he had gone through. Sev’s stuff was awesome! It held up against a mirelurk’s crushing strength and just made him feel a bit of a pinch between its claws. Katy and Sylvie only got the breath knocked out of them, and maybe a bit of a concussion, but really, they should’ve had their bones shattered at impact. And Phillip was just unlucky to get stabbed in the face, though the thin face shield held up and he was sent flying with a dislocated shoulder instead.

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It could’ve been worse. As is, stimpak or two and he would be fine for now, and Sev already was mentioning a visit to the arches to settle any hidden issues.

So they had their first blooding, and Sev was pleased with everyone’s performance. That was important to Edward. Having Sev personally come to make sure that he was alright after getting nabbed by a mirelurk was probably the best thing to happen to Edward.

Also, Curie had solidified her reputation as the scariest thing in New World 81. Her new body was covered in mirelurk gore, and a few of his friends were clearly having a tough time holding in their stomachs at the stench.

Sylvie’s team went to the Castle’s main entrance to serve as a welcoming party for the Minutemen once they were spotted marching, while Edward’s team took new orders from Sev to clean out any remaining mirelurk nests. Everyone paused and got caught by surprise when Sev muttered something and the Castle suddenly erupted in a cloud of dust. The coughing eventually faded away along with the dust, and then a chorus of surprised exclamations filled the air instead.

The Castle looked brand new all of the sudden. Edward’s eyes boggled as he noted how the grime and erosion were missing from the stonework, and the entire structure around him turned from worn and dirty grey to a more pristine, light grey. The doors were all sturdy wood with metal bracings, and Sylvie’s team had to suddenly struggle with the entrance’s massive doors open that weren't there before.

If Edward wanted to be nitpicky, the light bulbs and wiring still looked as disused as before, and maybe the mounds of dirt could be cleaned off the walls, but holy shit, Sev just fixed up the whole place!

Then he realised there was a clamor of alarm from outside, and remembered that the Minutemen were on the way and had probably seen the same thing. Well, glad Sylvie was dealing with reception and not himself.

Wait, where’s Sev going?

He watched New World’s big brother disappear into the fort, but remembered his duty and snapped his team out of their own amazement to start looking for nests.

By the time the Minutemen arrived, running it seemed, Edward’s team was moving into the fort to check for more nests, while Sylvie’s had managed to push the door open just enough to allow people in. Sev reappeared with a sentry bot in tow, then had it shut down in the middle of the fort’s grounds before he helped with the welcoming party.

As he joined his team indoors, Edward wondered just what the Minutemen were paying Sev for this string of miracles. Would he be fucking some of their women too, like what happened in Vault 81? At least their uniforms looked rather dashing. It took some effort for Edward to return to his duties once the highly distracting thought of Sev in the Minutemen’s full regalia (with some...revealing modifications) flashed to mind. Well, at least he had a reason to smile while he worked.

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Assaultron NW81-A05 took to its patrol duties with the same focus as it always did. Its protocols and the IFF designations were simple enough, though it rankled a bit like its colleagues at how restrained it had to be when dealing with initially non-hostile outsiders. Trespassers were questioned gently and then either escorted along if they were passing through or visiting, or were turned away with a warning if they were seeking to cause an incident. So far, NW81A05 and its colleagues had not had the pleasure of dealing with the latter case, only interacting with suitably cowed civilians passing through or well-behaved traders looking to trade with either Vault or New World 81.

Today held some promise for a change in pace though.

A small group of super mutants were detected by eyebots trying to trespass from the north. Several patrols were directed to greet the intruders, A05's team being one of them. Stealth suites activated and the assaultrons began stalking while the sentry bot colleagues took up their positions from a distance. Visuals on the super mutants was soon established, and A05 shared its excitement with its fellows on the shortwave as they confirmed the trespass and discussed how to resolve the matter.

Protocol demanded that should major threats like super mutants and deathclaws appear within friendly territory, a warning should be sent to both New World and Vault first to warn of the possible danger and avoid contact with the threat while awaiting further instructions. It made sense, prime owner Sev did not want to waste precious resources on low-probability attempts to defeat the foe.

The current issue was whether fourteen super mutants constituted a major threat. Engagement protocols clearly stated that it took more than one super mutant or deathclaw to constitute a major threat, but how many exactly? After all, it was sixteen assaultrons and eight sentry bots against that disorganized group of super mutants. And more to the point, while overkill is a good policy to enact, it would severely dilute the fun if more colleagues were brought in to deal with the issue. Even the sentry bots agreed.

The decision was unanimous, and a coded message sent to the curious eyebots who were also aware of the protocols to justify the impending attack. There were more than enough robots to handle this issue, therefore they would immediately deal with the trespasser as the super mutants currently did not constitute a 'major' threat. The eyebots processed the explanation and accepted it without any rebuttal.

Four patrols worth of assaultrons and sentry bots fell on the super mutants with steel blades and laser beams. A05 and his colleagues were right, it would have been far less fun if they marked this intrusion as a major threat. There was barely enough super mutants to go around, especially with the sentry bot colleagues being so thorough with their firepower. The encounter lasted just a shy of forty-nine seconds, if one defined the matter resolved with the super mutants being incapacitated or routed.

If the requirements called for complete cessation of life however, then the encounter would have only ended at two minutes and twelve seconds, give or take a few dozen milliseconds for the last heart to stop beating. Maybe add a few more seconds if one wanted to play it safe and factor in confirmed brain death instead.

It was a job well done. Precious data was harvested on super mutant anatomy, to be relayed back for the gestalt strategic network to process. The encounter would be recorded and attached to A05 and its colleagues suggestion to amend the protocols. And more importantly, A05 and its colleagues had their fun and could show off a bit to the others, especially the overly smug patrols led by A33 and A45. It would be nice to knock those glorified bug zappers and rat hunters a peg or two.

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